Amsterdam city swim
The open water swimming event through the canals of Amsterdam.
Canals
The goal of this assignment was to plan a safe, minimally disruptive route for a 5-kilometer Paralympic swim event in Amsterdam next May. We took various factors into account and initially selected a route by hand (Figure 3).
The majority of our data comes from maps of water quality indicators, charts of canal use data, and research papers or reports from the Municipality of Amsterdam and regulations for open water swimming events. We did not find any relevant .csv files. One of these resources was temporal—Figure 2, the chart of canal activity on an hourly basis—and a few maps were geospatial, but they did not require analysis in Python. Critical sources are listed at the end of Assignment 1.
We have incorporated all of these factors into the map below, and ultimately assessed which routes do not impact commercial water transport, have minimal impact on canal boat activity, and provide good water and air quality for swimmers. Below that, we provide an overview of the factors evaluated.
Figure 1. Amsterdam Paralympics Map. This map was created by our team using GIS. We pulled the data for commercial boats from the municipality of Amsterdam’s data bank. Using the specific URL, we entered the data into the GIS map. Of course, we made sure that it is in JSON file format so that it could be read. The water pollution data was also retrieved from a Gemeente Amsterdam dataset and saved as a .csv file. We put this into GIS as a table and were able to georeference it using the coordinates. The sewer overflow and waterway data were already online in the ArcGIS database.
Waterways
Canal Activity
To start, we examined the waterways in the Amsterdam canals. Figure 5 illustrates which water routes are utilized in Amsterdam and their levels of activity.
Figure 2 shows clearly which canals are most used and which are less crowded (source: https://openresearch.amsterdam/nl/page/92981/grachtenmonitor-2022).
In Figure 2, a more detailed chart shows most active waterways and intersections across Amsterdam’s canal network in hourly intervals. In short, we evaluated:
• Time and usage data for the canals
• Times and locations for touristic boat platforms along the canals
Our assumption was that canal boats refers to all boats primarily used for tourism. Based on this assumption, we excluded recreational boats. Using Figure 3, we pinpointed the locations of these commercial canal boats. From there, we used Figure 4 to determine which canals would be the least obstructed by a weekend event.
Figure 3 shows the locations of the commercial boats. The map is found in the Data en informatie data.amsterdam.nl) selecting water -> Ligplaatsen passagiersvaartuigen
Figure 4 – Passages measured on different legs at peak times -- is found in the Analyserapport Transport over Water .
Pollution
To ensure a healthy environment for the swimmers, we evaluated several water quality indicators. Our team prioritized the following from a wide list of factors (Source: Water in kaart | Waterschap AGV):) https://www.agv.nl/onze-taken/schoon-water/waterkwaliteit/
• Turbidity: Lower turbidity translates to clearer water, ideally less polluted. • Oxygen content: higher oxygen content is indicative of healthy water flow and aeration, which implies less water stagnancy and minimal pollution along the route. • Effluent points for treated sewage water: To eliminate any possibility of exposure to concentrated pollutants from water treatment plants, it is preferable to avoid effluent points.
Findings
Taking all of this into consideration, we concluded that the major activity on the waterways begins around 11 o'clock. Therefore, it would be advisable to begin our swimming tour early and conclude it before this surge in traffic begins.
Assuming an average person takes 2.5 hours to swim 5 kilometers, we have decided to operate the swimming tour from 7 o'clock to 11 o’clock, allowing swimmers a four-hour window to account for late starts, emergencies, and avoiding boat activity. The selected route is below (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Recommended Route for the Amsterdam Paralympic 5K Swim in May 2024.
Key Sources for the Municipality of Amsterdam:
| Description | Source | Data format | Numerical | Python libraries | How geometrically represented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water quality in Amsterdam | https://onderzoek.amsterdam.nl/dataset/water-in-amsterdam | Excel file (.csv) | Yes | openpyxl | - |
| Map with turbidity, salt, and oxygen | https://www.agv.nl/onze-taken/schoon-water/waterkwaliteit/ | Map | There are numbers displayed on the map | - | Points |
| Map Amsterdam sewer system | https://amsterdecks.com/over-waterkwaliteit/riolering/ | Map | No | - | Lines and points |
| Sewer system, commercial boat | Analyserapport Transport over Water | Map | No | - | Lines, points, surfaces |